Today, on rainy day, I was entering a corner at a sensible speed when all of a sudden as I turned the steering wheel to the left to keep in my lane, a error displayed showing something along the lines of:

Power steering assistance unavailable. Service Power Steering

With strength, I got through the sharp corner and pulled over. The steering wheel became very heavy to use. I then turned the car on and off and everything worked fine again.

I have had the VF Calais V serviced up to date, all recalls checked and completed and I am trying to figure out what to do other than book it in for service.

Has anyone had a similar issue?

I found this website which shows my issue. But I don't understand a campaign which has been setup by holden apparently for this type of problem. Is that a recall? Is it something I can get fixed under warranty even if my car is months out?

The fault is common enough for holden to replace the rack for free even on cars out of warranty. So the damage probably had nothing to do with it.
My advice would be to take it to Holden after the damage is repaired. They're likely to use the damage as an excuse to get out of paying for the rack.
Read back through this forum a bit, there are some threads posted by members who have been through this process. I think they had to deal with Holden customer care rather than a local dealer?

Thank you- Ive currently got the car going in for a insurance claim to repair wheel damage including damage to the front passenger wheel which hit the kerb at speed. Could hitting the wheel into a kerb at speed of around 40kms have damaged the rack?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the advice. The only damage they are currently repairing is some alloy which scraped the kerb so I really doubt such a light scrape caused that sort of damage.
Ill email Holden Support now.

The fault is common enough for holden to replace the rack for free even on cars out of warranty. So the damage probably had nothing to do with it.
My advice would be to take it to Holden after the damage is repaired. They're likely to use the damage as an excuse to get out of paying for the rack.
Read back through this forum a bit, there are some threads posted by members who have been through this process. I think they had to deal with Holden customer care rather than a local dealer?

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I called my local dealership and they're inspected it and put the claim through to Holden

Thanks guys, I appreciate the advice. The only damage they are currently repairing is some alloy which scraped the kerb so I really doubt such a light scrape caused that sort of damage.
Ill email Holden Support now.

appreciate it!

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I'd be getting them to throw it on a wheel alignment machine aswell, be interesting to see if it's pushed the camber or toe out to a degree that it's causing the steering angle sensor to error.

Cashie- I am fairly worried. I entered a two lane round about to take a sharp left turn when it just cut out. Out of all the Holden’s I’ve ever had, this is the scariest problem I’ve faced.

I’ve sent Holden an email and will follow that up with phone call Monday morning and a booking with my local Holden dealership.

The assessor of my claim proves the scrape was very minor. I’ll still have a wheel alignment done but this is independent. Surely they don’t build cars these days to lose power steering after a hit to the wheels, which in my case was mild.

I need the problem sorted so I’ll get Holden to sort it then keep you updated on who foots the bill.

I’m not sure if it’s my own imagination, but it feels to me as thought our 2014 is pulling to the left, every now & again, more than it ever has before.
Problem is I may just be being over-sensitive. Unsure of whether it fixes itself, or if I’m just driving onto a chunk of road with less camber.

This can’t be anything to do with the faulty rack design, can it? The failure is either total or there’s no failure at all, innit?

I’m not sure if it’s my own imagination, but it feels to me as thought our 2014 is pulling to the left, every now & again, more than it ever has before.
Problem is I may just be being over-sensitive. Unsure of whether it fixes itself, or if I’m just driving onto a chunk of road with less camber.

This can’t be anything to do with the faulty rack design, can it? The failure is either total or there’s no failure at all, innit?

Hi Forg- I had no issue or pre-warning whatsoever. Just imagine driving at speed then needing to use the steering wheel and it just shutting off with only being able to turn it with brute force. Those with less strength could end up in a pretty bad situation.

Happened to me in August with nearly the same result - scary as hell and I'm gladmy wife wasn't driving. Rack replaced by Holden for free. Apparently the connection to the electric steering corrodes and voila.
The preventative fix is a dab of goo over the connection point to prevent watet getting in... Holden don't do preventative maintenance it seems.

Happened to me in August with nearly the same result - scary as hell and I'm gladmy wife wasn't driving. Rack replaced by Holden for free. Apparently the connection to the electric steering corrodes and voila.
The preventative fix is a dab of goo over the connection point to prevent watet getting in... Holden don't do preventative maintenance it seems.

Interesting! If Holden are replacing steering racks in VF commodores without question than it must be a known problem. Lets hope it doesn't take a serious injury or death before Holden does the right thing and do a full recall to fix the problem correctly.

Sounds like someone who's had this problem needs to complain to the national watchdog agency.

After calling Holden Customer care- they said not to go through them but to book it into my local holden dealer.
Ive got it booked for about a weeks time. I will keep everybody posted.

If my partner was driving, and as it occurred, in the wet at speed with the steering wheel barely useable I am almost certain an accident would have occurred.

With Holden Customer Care stating my 2014 holden Calias was recalled and repaired- I told them obviously not good correctly. As part of the fault water gets into the electricals. This causes the electric steering to shut off when travelling at speed. This is exactly what happened. It was raining, ended up in a roundabout needing to take a sharp left then bang, no steering.

Lets see how Holden tries to get out of paying for this because its not under warranty by a handful of months.

National watchdog might be a good option- frankly I don't want the car if its even possible to lose steering and risk lives.